Can you tell us how you arrived on the Route du Rhum? It's not your core business.
And it's still not my job! I am part of the good 1/3 of the Class40 which are 100% amateur. I have been passionate about boating since I was a child, even though I grew up in Dijon. We spent a large part of our summer holidays in Brittany and my parents and grandparents were boating. I learned to do it like that, just for fun. Then as you grew up, you played sports and I liked competition. That's probably what took me to the regatta, and I really liked being on the water, even though it was more like fishing or picnicking on the islands at the base. It was the meeting of the two that made me start racing as a teenager. When you start after that, you always want to do a little more. You are always frustrated with your regatta because you didn't prepare it well and you start thinking that you could have prepared it better. Once you've done a transmediterranean, you think you can do a Transgascogne and then it never stops. Four years ago I realized that I was still working on projects a little hard. With friends with a boat rented at the last minute... it was mostly an excuse to justify our poor results. So I thought that making a project a little more structured could be quite a good way to find out where I was at. I hesitated between doing the Solitaire du Figaro or the Route du Rhum. At first I didn't want to do Solitaire anymore, but it wasn't really possible with my job. It's taking too long. The Route du Rhum seemed to me to be more feasible in the long term. It is possible to prepare for your holidays and free time and above all it has spoken more to my employer who is Azeo. They said to me: go! And that was the starting point.
So you're not full-time on your project and you're still working in parallel?
Yes, I stopped working last Wednesday (Editor's note: October 24th), just 10 days before departure! Otherwise until now, I prepared the boat and the project on my weekends or holidays. I bought the boat a year and a half ago and since then - except for 4 weeks this summer because I became a father and for some weddings - all my time is dedicated to the boat. I think I sailed as much as people who set up their projects 8 or 9 months ago, but who started working full time. It's the advantage of having started a little earlier, I had more latitudes to organize myself and sail.
Why Class40 and why this particular boat?
The Class40 has really succeeded in mixing pros and amateurs. These are affordable budgets for boats that are still offshore racing boats with good sensations. I find that the compromise is not far from perfect. Moreover, as the class is quite restrictive, boats that are not of the latest generation are not totally out of the loop. My boat dates from 2010 and it already has a good track record. He won the Jacques Vabre in 2011, then made 3rd or 4th again in 2013. It is a boat that used to work well and always works well and it is robust. When I started the project, I didn't want to be in the "vintage" category. I really wanted to compete against the heart of the Class40, even if it's only to end up far behind. However, I didn't have the financial means to have a last generation boat and I thought that this one was a good compromise.
Since you got the boat, what have you changed? Did you put it in your hand?
At first, I thought it was up to me to get up to speed with the boat to get started and then we'll see after that. That was in 2017. Last winter, I did a work site, but it was mainly reliability and refurbishment. All the computer equipment, sails and some deck layout changes were made, but nothing major. It's still a boat that was well thought out and since I didn't necessarily have any experience, I was more in the mood to adapt to something that works.
Do you have any fond memories of the Route du Rhum?
The 1994 Route du Rhum, I was 10 years old and I think it was the first sailing race I really followed with a little interest. I really remember the arrival of Yvan Bourgnon who was completely euphoric. He's perched on his bowsprit before he even crosses the line. He puts his hands on his hull. I thought that ocean racing was really fun, cool and exhilarating. After that I started to follow all the races (Vendée Globe, Jacques Vabre...)
How would you describe the Route du Rhum in a few words?
It is the "most mythical" of races. It is not necessarily the hardest or the longest, but it is the most famous. When you are passionate about boats and want to tick a few boxes, you think of the Route du Rhum. In Class40, it's clearly the most beautiful and I really want to be able to say: "I did the Route du Rhum". I realised when I launched the project and when I talked to people about it that everyone knows about the Route du Rhum. Certainly some people don't even know where it starts or where it happens, whether it's crewed or solo, but on the other hand everyone knows the race. When you say you've done the Route du Rhum, people say "wow".
After the Rum, what program for you and the boat?
With Azeo, the objective was the Route du Rhum. Azeo it remains an SME, it is an IT firm that really liked this project, but they can't afford to do it over the long term. It's a big investment. As a result, I no longer have any sponsors - especially since I have another sponsor who withdrew a few days ago. For the start of the race, it puts me in a little trouble. I hear a lot of people telling me that there are last-minute sponsors and I hope that's true.
As for me, everyone tells me that I will want to continue so I don't see why I should be different. Anyway, in a regatta, only the winner is not frustrated and since there is a very good chance that I will not win... there is a very good chance that I will be frustrated and that I want to leave again. Yes, I would like to continue.
Can you introduce us to your boat?
It is a Verdier plan, the particularity of this boat is that it has only transverse varangues. At high speed the boat moves a little. The architect says it's normal. I like its configuration with the mattress canvases. I don't have bunks, I really prefer the fatboy formula, I can put it or I want it in the boat - which is not bad as I'm a fan of little naps. On the ballast side it's quite classic: at the back and on the sides. It was one of the first boats that was really 100% up to speed. It's a boat that's very wide at the back, it has a big ass. We put the weights forward long enough until the boat is well launched and then we move the weights back. He really needs to get his ass out to get him moving. For a boat that is from 2010, I don't have too much DIY, it's clean, reliable.
I have Pontos winches, it's cool, it's not the 3rd gear as such that's nice, but when you gybe under spinnaker, your 1st gear is almost live. You embark much faster and you don't miss your gybes as much. After that, I don't mind having to go forward, to the foot of the mast where, unlike the others, I have my halyards. The spinnaker tack is also at the front.
Ready to go?
My social security check was Sunday and everything is OK. All we need is the sunscreen in the survival canister. They are very meticulous, they made me open the IOR pole and indeed the cartridge looked like a rusted war 14 shell! I'm going to have to change it. I have to put my aerial back on, recheck the rubber bands on the mainsail carts to be sure and then look at the weather more and more. I started looking yesterday, but that keeps changing.
What will be the difficulty on the course?
There is a big depression that will probably happen 24 to 36 hours after the start. She's clearly going to block our way to the south, at least at the beginning. We plan to have meadows in bad weather. We'll probably go to the Fastnet. After the travel speed is not clear. For the moment it moves very fast so we wouldn't have bad weather for too long, but it has time to change. Every time, it will be on us for the start.
On a personal level, what will be the difficulty?
The boat is a good boat, if there is a bad time it can be managed as such. We haven't trained much in the bad weather because there hasn't been any wind since June. Besides, I have less experience. The unknown is my ability to engage a little in the bad weather, to go there. I'll get on the reserve soon enough and the others will go ahead. I don't think it's going to be easy to manage, to say to yourself that with fatigue and heavy weather, you have to force yourself.
